And the servant swearing by the Juno of his master. And to take care of the skin, the perseverance of the highest citizen. 105 In the field of Bedriacum to affect the spoil of the palace, And to extend over the face bread squeezed with the fingers : Which neither the quivered Semiramis in the Assyrian world, Nor sad Cleopatra did in her Actiacan galley. 104. To kill Galba, &c.] The nimirum doubtless to be sure-throws an irony over this and the following three lines; as if the poet said, To aim at empire, and to have the reigning prince assassinated in the forum, in order to succeed him, was, doubtless, a most noble piece of generalship, worthy a great general; and, to be sure, it was the part of a great citizen to take so much care of his complexion: it must be allowed worthy the mightiest citizen of Rome, to attend to this with unremitting constancy! This action of Otho's, who, when he found Galba, who had promised to adopt him as his successor, deceiving him, in favour of Piso, destroyed him, makes a strong contrast in the character of Otho: in one instance, bold and enterprising ; in another, soft and effeminate. 106. In the field to affect, &c.] To aim at, to aspire to, the peaceable and sole possession of the emperor's palace, as master of the empire, when engaged in the battle with Vitellius in the field of Bedriacum, (between Cremona and Verona,) was great and noble; but how sadly inconsistent with what follows! 107. To extend over the face, &c.] The Roman ladies used a sort of bread, or paste, wetted with asses' milk. This they pressed and spread with their fingers on the face to cover it from the air, and thus preserve the complexion. See sat. vi. 1. 461. This was practised by the emperor Otho. Otho at last, being twice defeated by Vitellius, dreading the horrors of the civil war in which he was engaged, killed himself to prevent it, when he had sufficient force to try his fortune again. 108. The quivered Semiramis.] The famous warlike queen of Assyria, who, after the death of her husband Ninus, put on man's apparel, and did many warlike actions. 109. Sad Cleopatra.] The famous and unfortunate queen of Egypt, who with M. Anthony, being defeated by Augustus, in the sea-fight at Actium, fled to Alexandria, and there, despairing to find any favour from Augustus, applied two asps to her breast, which stung her to death. She died on the tomb of Anthony, who had killed himself after the loss of the battle. 109. In her Actiacan galley.] Carina properly signifies the keel, or bottom of a ship; but, by synec. the whole ship or vessel. It denotes here the fine galley, or vessel, in which Cleopatra was at the battle of Actium; which was richly ornamented with gold, and had purple sails. Regina (Čleopatra) cum aurea puppe, veloque purpureo, se in altum dedit. PLIN. lib. xix. c. 1. ad fin. From this it is probable that our Shakespeare took his idea of the vessel in which Cleopatra, when she first met M. Anthony on the river Cydnus, appeared; the description of which is embellished with some of the finest touches of that great poet's fancy. See Ant. and Cleop. act ii. sc. ii. Neither of these women were so effeminate as the emperor Otho, Hic nullus verbis pudor, aut reverentia mensæ : Sacrorum antistes, rarum ac memorabile magni : : 110. Here is no modesty, &c.] Juvenal having censured the effeminacy of their actions and dress, now attacks their manner of conversation at their sacrificial feasts. -Reverence of the table.] That is, of the table where they feasted on their sacrifices, which, every where else, was reckoned sacred: here they paid no sort of regard to it. 111. Of filthy Cybele.] Here they indulge themselves in all the filthy conversation that they can utter; like the priests of Cybele, who used display all manner of filthiness and obscenity before the image of their goddess, both in word and action. -With broken voice.] Perhaps this means a feigned, altered, lisping voice, to imitate the voices of women, or of the priests of Cybele who were all eunuchs. 112. An old fanatic.] Fanaticus (from Gr. Davouas, appareo) denotes one that pretends to inspiration, visions, and the like. Such the Galli, or priests of Cybele, were called, from their strange gestures and speeches, as if actuated or possessed by some spirit which they called divine. See VIRG. En. vi. 1. 46-51. a description of this fanatic inspiration; which shews what the heathens meant, when they spake of their diviners being pleni Deo, afflati numine, and the like. See PARK. Heb. and Eng. Lex. 8, No. 4. Such a one was the old white-headed priest here spoken of. 113. Chief priest of sacred things.] Of their abominable rites and ceremonies, which they performed, in imitation of the women, to the Bona Dea. 110 115 120 114. An ample throat.] A most capacious swallow; he set an example of most uncommon gluttony. -A master to be hired.] If any one would be taught the science of gluttony, and of the most beastly sensuality, let him hire such an old fellow as this for a master to instruct him. TER. And. act i. sc. ii. 1. 19. has a thought of this kind. Simo says to Da vus, Tum si migistrum cepit ad eam rem improbum. 115. What do they wait for, &c.] As they wish to be like the priests of Cybele, and are so fond of imitating them, why do they delay that operation which would bring them to a perfect resemblance ? 117. Gracchus.] It should seem, that by this name Juvenal does not mean one particular person only, but divers of the nobles of Rome, who had shamefully practised what he mentions here, and afterwards, 1. 143. gave a dower-dotem dedit—as a wife brings a dower to her husband, so did Gracchus to the hora-blower. -400 sestertia.] See note, sat i. 1. 106. about 31251. 118. A horn-blower, &c.] A fellow who had been either this, or a trumpeter, in the Roman army, in which the Romans only used wind-instruments: the two principal ones were the cornua, or horns, and the tubæ, trumpets; they both were made of brass: the horns were made crooked, like the horns of animals, which were used by the rude ancients in battle. The trumpets were straight, like ours; therefore Juvenal, supposing the person might have been a trumpeter, says, re Here is no modesty in their discourse, or reverence of the table: Here, of filthy Cybele, and of speaking with broken voice, The liberty; and an old fanatic, with white hair, 110 Chief priest of sacred things, a rare and memorable example Of an ample throat, and a master to be hired. But what do they wait for, for whom it is now high time, in the Phrygian Manner, to cut away with knives their superfluous flesh? 115 To a horn-blower, or perhaps he had sounded with straight brass, The writings were signed: "Happily"-said :-a vast Supper is set: the new-married lay in the husband's bosom.— ye nobles! have we occasion for a censor, or for a soothsayer? çto cantaverat ære. That these two instruments were made of brass, and shaped as above mentioned, appears from Ovid, Met. lib. i. 1. 98. Non tuba directi, non æris cornua flexi. See an account of the Roman martial musical instruments, KENNETT, Antiq. part ii. book iv. c. 11. 119. The writings.] The marriage-writings. See note on 1. 58. Happily"-said.] They were wished joy, the form of which was by pronouncing the word "feliciter"-I wish you joy, as we say this was particularly used on nuptial occasions, as among us. 119, 20. A vast supper is set.] A sumptuous entertainment, on the occasion, set upon the table. Or, ingens cœna may here be used metonymically, to denote the guests who were invited in great numbers to the marriage supper: the word sedet is supposed equivalent with accumbit. This last is the interpretation of J. Britannicus, and C. S. Curio; but Holyday is for the first; and I rather think with him, as the word sedet is used in a like sense, where our poet speaks (sat. i. 1. 95, 6.) of setting the dole-basket on the threshold of the door: -Nunc sportula primo Limine parva sedet. So here for setting the supper on the table. 120. The new-married, &c.] As Sporus was given in marriage to Nero, so Gracchus to this trumpeter: hence Ju 121 venal humourously calls Gracchus nova nupta, in the feminine gender. Nubere is applicable to the woman, and ducere to the man. -In the husband's bosom.] i. e. Of the trumpeter, who now was become husband to Gracchus. 121. O ye nobles!] O proceres! O ye patricians, nobles, senators, magistrates of Rome, to whom the government and magistracy, as well as the welfare of the city is committed! Many of these were guilty of these abominations, therefore Juvenal here sarcastically invokes them on the occasion. -A censor.] An officer whose business it was to inspect and reform the manners of the people. There were two of them, who had power even to degrade knights, and to exclude senators, when guilty of great misdemeanors. merly they maintained such a severity of manners, that they stood in awe of each other. For -Soothsayer.] Aruspex or haruspex, from haruga, a sacrifice, (which from Heb. 7, to kill or slaughter,) and specio, to view. A diviner who divined by viewing the entrails of the sacrifices. A soothsayer. When any thing portentous or prodigious happened, or appeared in the entrails of the beasts, it was the office of the haruspex to offer an expiation, to avert the supposed anger of the gods. q. d. Do we, in the midst of all the prodigies of wickedness, want most a censor for correction, or an haruspex Scilicet horreres, majoraque monstra putares, for expiation? For, as the next two lines intimate, we ought not, in all reason, to be more shocked or amazed at the most monstrous or unnatural births, than at these monstrous and unnatural productions of vice. 124. Collars.] Segmenta; collars, ouches, pearl-necklaces worn by women. AINSW. from seco, to cut; segmen, a piece cut off from something: perhaps segmina may mean pieces of ribbon, or the like, worn as collars, as they often are by women among us. -Long habits.] The stola, or matron's gown, which reached down to the feet. -Wedding veils.] Flameum or flammeum, from flamma, a flame, because it was of a yellowish or flame-colour. A kind of veil or scarf, put over the bride's face for modesty's sake. -He takes.] Gracchus puts on, who once had been one of the Salii. 125. Who carrying sacred things.] This alludes to the sacred images carried in the processions of the Salii, which waved or nodded with the motion of those who carried them, or, perhaps, so contrived, as to be made to nod, as they were carried along, like the image of Venus when carried in pomp at the Circensian games, mentioned by Ov. Amor. Eleg. lib. iii. eleg. ii. Annuit et motu signu secunda dedit. -A secret rein.] A thong, or leather strap, secretly contrived, so as by pulling it to make the image nod its head; to the no small comfort of the vulgar, who thought this a propitious sign, as giving assent to their petitions. See the last note. 126. Sweated with Mars's shields.] The ancilia were so called from ancisus, cut or pared round. 125 130 In the days of Numa Pompilius, the successor of Romulus, a round shield was said to fall from heaven: this was called ancile, from its round form; and, at the same time, a voice said, that "the city "would be of all the most powerful, while "that ancile was preserved in it." Numa, therefore, to prevent its being stolen, caused eleven shields to be made so like it, as for it not to be discerned which was the true one. He then instituted the twelve Salii, or priests of Mars, who were to carry these twelve shields through the city, with the images and other insignia of Mars, (the supposed father of Romulus, the founder of Rome,) and while these priests went in procession, they sang and danced till they were all over in a sweat. Hence these priests of Mars were called Salii, a saliendo. The poet gives us to understand, that Gracchus had been one of these Salii, but had left them, and had sunk into the effeminacies and debaucheries above mentioned. 126. O father of the city!] Mars, the supposed father of Romulus, the founder of Rome, and therefore called pater urbis. See HoR. lib. i. od. ii. 1. 3540. 127. Latian shepherds?] Italy was called Latium, from lateo, to lie hid; Saturn being said to have hidden himself there, when he fled from his son Jupiter. See VIRG. Æn. viii. 319-23. Romulus was supposed to have been a shepherd, as well as the first and most ancient ancestors of the Romans; hence Juvenal calls them Latii pastores. So sat. viii. 1. 274, 5. 125 What! would you dread, and think them greater prodigies, 130 Nor complain to the father!-Go therefore, and depart from the acres Of the harsh field, which you neglect.-A bus'ness, to-morrow Early, is to be dispatched by me in the vale of Quirinus. 131. Nor complain, &c.] To Jupiter, the father of all the gods, or perhaps Juvenal means" your father," as supposing with Hesiod, that Mars was the son of Jupiter and Juno. So Homer, Il. . though some, as Ovid, make him the son of Juno without a father. Ov. Fast. v. 229, &c. -Go therefore.] Since you are so unconcerned at these things, as to shew no signs of displeasure at them, you may as VOL. I. well depart from us entirely. -Depart.] Cede for discede, the simple for the composite. So VIRG. Æn. vi. 460. Invitus, regina, tuo de litore cessi. 132. The harsh field.] The Campus Martius, a large field near Rome, between the city and the Tiber, where all manner of robust aud martial exercises were performed, over which Mars was supposed to preside. By the poet's using the epithet harsh, or severe, he may be supposed to allude to the harsh and severe conflicts there exhibited; or to Mars himself, to whom this is given by Martial, ep. xxx. 1. 10. Cum severi fugit oppidum Martis. -Which you neglect.] By not vindicating its honour, and not punishing those who have exchanged the manly exercises of the Campus Martius for the most abandoned effeminacy. -A bus'ness to-morrow.] In order to expose the more, and satirize the more severely, these male-marriages, the poet here introduces a conversation between two persons on the subject. The word officium is peculiarly relative to marriage, nuptiale or nuptiarum being understood. Suet. in Claud. c. 26. Cujus officium nuptiarum, et ipse ́ cum Agrippina celebravit. So PETRON. Consurrexi ad officium nuptiale. Such is the meaning of officium in this place, as relative to what follows. He was to attend the ceremony at sun-rise, at the temple of Romulus, which was a place where marriage-contracts were often made. I |